Prayers answered for ND's Leitko

April 12, 2006|ERIC HANSEN Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- If he never played another down of football, if he never got a second chance to touch his dreams, Travis Leitko could push forward knowing some good came out of the darkest moments of his life. While in academic exile from Notre Dame during the 2005-06 academic year, Leitko set aside the shock and the shame and transformed himself from victim to survivor. He also discovered that the cheering doesn't necessarily stop when the football uniform comes off. And most importantly, he now knows what answered prayers look like. He sees it in the smiles of his parents, both of whom made miraculous recoveries from cancer in the past several months while Leitko was taking care of them. He sees it in the normalcy that has returned to all of their lives. He sees it in e-mails and phone calls from former teachers, long-lost friends and even strangers who wouldn't let The Woodlands, Texas, product give up on his parents' fight -- or his own. "It warms your heart to hear from people who say they're thinking about you and tell you they'll know you'll do well and that (they) would do anything in the world to help you," he said. And now the door is reopening ever so slightly for Leitko to write a happily-ever-after script for himself. Notre Dame has readmitted the former prep All-America defensive end for the summer term. "I am about to send in my application for the fall, and that shouldn't be a problem -- but you never know," Leitko said Tuesday via cell phone from The Woodlands. "I've also talked to coach (Charlie) Weis, but nothing is in concrete. We've worked some things out, and if everything goes well, it'll give me an opportunity to play for the team next year." Leitko, back on track to graduate in May of 2007 and with one year of football eligibility remaining, will find a tough climb up the depth chart awaiting him if all the pieces do fall into place. Classmate Chris Frome gained valuable experience as a starter in 2005 until he suffered a season-ending knee injury Oct. 15 against USC, but he'll be back in the mix in the fall. Junior-to-be Ronald Talley had some impressive bursts in taking over for Frome and has been much more consistent this spring. Junior Justin Brown and senior Dwight Stephenson have excited the coaching staff with their potential to complement incumbent starter Victor Abiamiri. And two incoming freshmen, John Ryan and Kallen Wade, add even more possibilities this fall. But Leitko, with 21 games as a reserve and a modest 17 career tackles, has two role models to take heart from about triumphing over long odds. They just happen to sit across the supper table from him every night. Leitko's mom, Janice, was bedridden from the end of May until just after Thanksgiving, her condition complicated by internal scarring from radiation treatments to eradicate cancer. To this day, she is not sure how she could have made it had her son been in South Bend during those months instead of back home with her. Leitko's father, Mike, was weakened by cancer as well and underwent surgery just after Thanksgiving, also not without incident. Leitko cared for his parents full-time, his only diversion a language class he took at Montgomery County (Texas) Community College last fall. "But right around Christmas, New Year's, everything kind of turned around," Leitko said. "And everything just kind of took off for all of us. Dad went back to work. Mom started cleaning up a storm. And I settled into a routine." Leitko got an internship after the holidays with a local engineering firm, began working out in earnest for the first time in months and increased his class load at Montgomery County Community College. He will change his major from aerospace engineering to history when he returns to Notre Dame. "Aerospace engineering is something that didn't work out," he said. "Not everything does. I still have a passion for it, but I'm going to get a degree in something else, and then make a decision from there." He hasn't given up on being the player he was projected to be out of high school, though. The jewel of the 2002 recruiting class knows somewhere inside of him his potential, his dreams have awakened. But he also knows how fragile they and life can be. "These last few months have been so hard and have been such a blessing all at the same time," he said. "Part of you wishes it had never happened. Part of you knows you're much stronger for it having happened. It's one of those things you take it as it is. "We'll see how this year turns out and how everything works. I appreciate the time I've had with my parents, and I love then both dearly. But it's time for me to get back and finish what I started, get everything back to the way it should be and finish everything up right." Staff writer Eric Hansen: ehansen@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6470